I recall the evening news once carried the story of a child on the way to school who had been struck by a motor vehicle and who later died in hospital.  What particularly shocked people was that the driver of the car involved sped off without rendering assistance.  Even worse – despite this happening on a relatively busy stretch of road it took ten minutes before someone stopped to help the victim.  Tragic events like that raise questions about our willingness as a society to be compassionate.  How could an injured child be left lying so long by the roadside?

Of course we could ask that same question about other areas of life too – not just about accident victims.  We could ask that about those living below the poverty line – the poor.  Do we care?  Or we could ask it about those cut off from society: the elderly, the institutionalised, the AIDS victims.  Why is there so often such a lack of compassion towards the needy?  The present pandemic has brought out a lot of good in people but we’ve also seen an ugly side: People fighting in shops over toilet paper and more recently Aussies telling people of Chinese appearance to go back home as if they were personally to blame for the present virus pandemic.

At this point we could make some observations about our inherent selfishness.  We live in a “me first” generation.  We live in a society where it’s the done thing to look after “Number One” – Me!  We are so pre-occupied with OUR needs and OUR wants that there is little time left for others who are hurting.

Jesus too once told of a situation where someone was left lying injured besides the highway – the story of the Good Samaritan.  We’re familiar with that term.  A Good Samaritan is someone who will help someone he doesn’t even know.  It’s a term which we have taken from that story Jesus told.

In that story Jesus tells of a victim of robbery with assault who is left for dead by the roadside.  A priest who happened to pass by had other things to attend to and left him lying there.  So too did a temple assistant – a Levite.  These men were only concerned with themselves.  It was finally a foreigner – and a despised one at that – who gave assistance to that wounded man.  That story Jesus told certainly highlights that our selfishness often gets in the road of our compassion for others.

Jesus left us with no option as to whether or not we should help the needy and the hurting.  He told us that God’s laws can be summarised in one word: LOVE.  “Love God above all else and love your neighbour as yourself”.  Show compassion to your needy neighbour.  It was an occasion when Jesus was asked: “And who is my neighbour?” that Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan – the man from a different ethnic background who was willing to go out of his way – make some sacrifices of time and money for a man in need.  Jesus concluded by saying: “Go and do likewise!”

But that’s just the problem isn’t it?  By nature we aren’t the kind of people who will go out of our way for a stranger in need – someone whom we don’t even know.  It takes the love of God in Christ to break down our selfishness and to make us into the kind of people who are willing to make sacrifices – even for strangers in need.

John Westendorp